1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to telecommunications, and in particular, to testing access links provided by an access provider between a service provider and a customer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Telecommunication customers, such as enterprise or residential customers, often times will have customer premise equipment, such as a modem or packet switch, installed at their customer site. Service providers typically provide services to the customer, such voice or data services, over a third party access network that links the customer and the service provider. Increasingly, access is being provided by cable multi-service operators (MSO).
In the past, in order to test a service or an access link, a service provider would transmit a packet stream to the CPE located at the residence. Either the CPE or the computer connected to the CPE would loop-back the stream. The service provider would know the characteristics of the incoming stream and would therefore expect a particular pattern from the outgoing stream. However, the advent of Ethernet based access networks has hindered the ability of performing loop-back testing. In particular, if the incoming MAC is the same as the outgoing MAC, the stream is blocked by a filter in the access network. As a result, the test stream cannot reach the test system and the testing of the access link is inhibited.